Apparently, as Bill Gates made his farewells to 800 Microsoft employees last Friday morning, he was overcome by emotion. According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Todd Bishop, who attended the event and posted audio of the speech, both Gates and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer struggled to hold it together as Ballmer presented Gates with a farewell gift: A scrapbook of photos and memories.
"Even the times that were the toughest, in some ways, those are the ones that bond you the most," Gates told the gathering. "You know, when IBM decides to attack you, or when some legal ruling isn't quite right, and you have to have a press conference afterwards."
Gates urged employees to realize that the work they do has a long term impact on the world, and said that he takes special pride in seeing blind people using the Internet as a result of the software accessibility improvements Microsoft has made over the years. In the end, though, Gates said the overriding memory he'll take from his many years at Microsoft is the fun he's had coming to work every day.
Hey, if I was making a million dollars a minute, I'd look forward to coming to work every day as well!
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It's a little known fact, but true. Back in August of 2003, in a luncheon speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Gates said he had "a little more than 10 years" left in his software "career." The math is simple -- that would be 2013.
A mere three years after that speech, however, Gates surprised the business world with his announcement of a 2008 retirement, five years earlier than indicated. It took New York Times reporter John Markoff to catch this discrepancy. It was the first question out of Markoff's mouth at Gates' retirement news conference, but Gates said he didn't recall his earlier statement, and the subject was dropped.
But as he still owns a massive chunk of Microsoft, I'm sure he'll make his opinions known inside the company. And I'll bet Steve Ballmer has a "Bat Phone" hot-line to Bill hidden under a flower pot or something in his office.
Here in the US it's becoming obvious that Obama is jumping all over McCain when it comes to owning the Internet. Particularly when it comes to social networks. Taking the Big Three social networking sites -- where the junior Illinois senator beats the senior Arizona senator right into the ground, it's almost no contest.
On MySpace, Obama lists more than 401,000 friends to McCain's 56,000. A similar sevenfold gap exists on Facebook, where Obama supporters number 1,040,185 while McCain's clock in at 152,570. And on YouTube, it's like Obama and McCain operate in two separate layers of the atmosphere. McCain's channel, which has posted 208 videos, has been viewed 3.7 million times; Obama's more than 1,100 videos on his channel have been viewed 53.4 million times.
Obviously, age has a lot to do with it. Young voters are the savviest online users, and most of them flocked to Obama in the primaries. But the Internet's potential political effect is not limited to voters younger than 30. According to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project released last week, 46 percent of all Americans -- young and old -- have used the Web to get news about the campaign, share their opinions and mobilize friends, relatives and co-workers. And as Obama has demonstrated, online is where the money is.
I almost wet myself when I read yesterday that Facebook may have started to win the global popularity contest over the the "Wizened of Oz's social network site MySpace, judging from some recent figures.
Apparently, last month, Facebook had 123.9 million unique visitors and 50.6 billion page views worldwide, according to the research firm ComScore. MySpace, meanwhile, had 114.6 million unique visitors and 45.4 billion page views. It would seem that this is the first time Facebook has edged past MySpace in those metrics. OK, Facebook is growing faster outside the US, while here at home, MySpace is still on top and pulls in twice as many visitors as its competition on a monthly basis, according to the firm.
MySpace gets more than 70 million visits from U.S. Web surfers in a typical month. Personally, I hope Facebook kicks the crap out of MySpace... Even though I'm not really a fan of Facebook... It's just that I'd love to see a 24 year old loser dump all over a eighty year old pompous git, who thinks he can buy the world, including a trophy wife.
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Not sure what the launch date is over there, but, here in the US, it was interesting to read that the cheapest model of Apple's new GodPhone, which is about to go on sale for $199, costs about $173 to make, according to an estimate by research firm iSuppli Corp. The phone, which updates last year's model with G3 functionality, faster Internet speeds and a built-in GPS navigation feature, goes on sale on July 11.
But, Apple freaks shouldn't start shedding tears on behalf of their "Sacred Silicon Valley" company... .Cos Apple's profit is much more than the $26 difference between the cost and retail price. The retail price is subsidized by AT&T, the exclusive carrier. So, in effect, AT&T will be buying phones from Apple at a higher price, then selling them to consumers at a loss because it earns back the difference through monthly service fees.
ISuppli estimates that AT&T will subsidize each phone by $300. Other analysts have put it at $350. In either case, the subsidy creates a whopping great margin for Apple. But, as I've said many times before... Steve Jobs is an evil genius!
It would seem that the news in today's BrandRepublic that the woman heading up WPP's agency in Zimbabwe, the one that's busting its *** to get the great and noble father of the revolution... AKA, Ace Pig, Robert Mugabe, re-elected for his hundredth term, is getting readers in a sweat, because it turns out she may be his cousin. Wouldn't you think the fact that her name is Sharon Mugabe might have been a bit of a clue.
Oh yes, the Poisned Dwarfs Dminions at WPP Central are professing they haven't known anything about it for the last two years, whilst gladly accepting the virtually worthless Zimbabwe crapolas, or whatever they are called, to create ads inciting more racial violence.
But only a couple of weeks ago, over here in the land of the free, Hillary had to dump Mark Penn, who was her chief strategist (While still pulling down the big bucks as CEO of Bursten-Marsteller) for lobbying on behalf of the Columbian government, while Hillary was on the campaign trail kicking the *** out of them... So, the question is... Who are the bigger scumbags... Politicians, or the ad people that work for them. Personally, I think they are the same bunch of wankers.
Over here in the US, it would seem that the Associated Press is getting its nose bent out of joint by blogger's. Only last week AP declared all of its content, even one-sentence snippets, off limits to bloggers. They claim that every comma, every period, every quote mark in an AP story is covered by their copyright. A policy that came to light after the venerable news organization sent a nastygram to The Drudge Retort (not to be confused with The Drudge Report) for excerpting several AP articles.
Needless to say, this didn't sit too well with a great many inhabitants of the blogosphere. After heaps of criticism, and getting their *** kicked, the AP backpedaled slightly. They've agreed to meet with some Dufus by the name of Robert Cox, who is president of the Media Bloggers Association, an organization I've never heard of, to hash out details of a truce.
The problem is we're looking at yet another business model that invariably gets imploded by the Net. The AP charges news outlets for access to its wire service, which allows regional newspapers to cover global stories at a fraction of the cost of sending their own reporters.
But in the blogosphere, all you need is one outlet reporting one AP story and it it's all over, with no need to pay for that expensive wire service. Worse yet for AP, blogger's who link to the original story are usually linking to one of AP's customers or a news aggregator like Google or Yahoo. And, these are the sites that get the traffic, not AP.
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As has been demonstrated over the last eight years, when it comes to the Middle East, the current US administration, is clueless. That's why I was not surprised to read in today's Washington Post that after blowing $350 million of the US taxpayer's money on an Arabic-language TV network by the name of al-Hurra, the bureau's satellite link was unplugged with little explanation a few weeks ago by a local company, making it impossible to broadcast live.
Since then, staffers have had to use a studio controlled by the Egyptian secret police, who have warned guests not to say anything controversial on the air. Which is funny when you consider al-Hurra means "The Free One" in Arabic, and is the centerpiece of yet another U.S. government campaign to spread democracy in the Middle East. Created in 2003, as a supposed counterweight to hugely popular al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based network that has built a large following in the Middle East with aggressive coverage of the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
But it would seem that the boobs running al-Hurra, didn't have much of a clue... In 2004, when an Israeli airstrike killed the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, virtually all Arabic news channels interrupted their regular programming. Al-Hurra continued with a cooking show. I guess you have to get your priorities right!
It would seem that part of the fallout from the failed Microsoft - Yahoo love fest, is the rapid flight of some of Yahoo's best and brightest.
Brad Garlinghouse, head of Yahoo's communications and communities group, is the latest exec to join a full-fledged exodus. Two more left with him: EVP Qi Lu of engineering for search and ad technology, and SVP Vish Makhijani, also of search.
This week, cofounders Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield of Flickr — which Yahoo purchased in 2005 — also left, following the departures of EVP Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's network division; and Jeremy Zawodny of the open source group.
TechCrunch published a spreadsheet to keep track of executive departures. You know things are bad when you need a bloody spreadsheet to keep track of the numbers!
I know I've gone on about this before, but why am I not surprised to read that Google, which enjoys 68 percent of web search share in the US and 87 percent in the UK, already dominates over 61 percent of mobile search, says Nielsen Mobile.
Yahoo holds second place in the mobile search race, with 18 percent of the market. Microsoft, at third, has a mere five percent.
What's more, Google mobile searchers search more often — nine times per month on average. Yahoo mobile searchers query about 6.7 times per month. Google is the default search engine on iPhone. In February it reported that iPhone users search Google 50 times more often than users on other mobile handsets.
Google is also the default engine on Opera's mobile browser. And it is currently closing a deal to become the default engine on Sprint mobile devices. Can anyone stop the 800 pound gorilla... The answer is no!
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When you've been in the screwed up ad biz as long as I have, then you've probably had to spend far too many sleepless nights trying to meet insane deadlines for some screwed up agency that always wants extra work at the last minute, so you keep yourself going with booze, strong coffee and cold pizza.
Then when you've shipped off the job, you're so wired you can't come down enough to fall asleep... Well, relax, 'cos now there's a new product out called "Drank," which is an anti-energy drink, or "extreme relaxation beverage!" And. it's full of crap like melatonin, valerian root and rose hips to help you chill out enough to maybe get some Zzzzs. Personally, I think some magic weed would do the trick a hell of a sight faster.
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The Google steamroller continues on its merry way. Once again they've pulled off another monster coup with the news in today's AdAge that they've landed a search deal with Yahoo that by some estimates could boost its revenue by $1 billion -- and may leave some advertisers footing larger sums for their keyword buys.
And when you consider that Google's numbers are already mind boggling... eMarketer pegs its 2008 share of net search-ad dollars at 76.4% to Yahoo's 7.3%, you have to realize no one is ever going to catch them. The research firm also said Google's gross search-ad revenue -- the total Google brings in before it pays out revenue to its affiliate partners, such as Ask and AOL -- is 90%.
From a search traffic-share standpoint, ComScore reports Google hit 61.6% in April while Yahoo and Microsoft nabbed 20.4% and 9.1%, respectively. Everything the "Dynamic Duo" touches, turns to gold. These guys are unstoppable!
You have to be amused to read in today's New York Times about how many technology companies are becoming victims of their own making. It's all about information overload. How many times over the years have we heard how technology has improved productivity for the general workforce (if not their pay packets.)
Now, apparently, with the ever increasing onslaught of cellphone calls and e-mail and instant messages, attention spans are suffering and the great god, productivity is starting to suffer. It's a common complaint. And now the companies that helped create the flood are trying to do something about it. Companies like Intel and Microsoft are introducing "Quiet" periods, by encouraging people to use applications that shut themselves out of their "In-Box" for fifteen minutes.
But guess what, if that starts to fry your brain and you have to get your fix, just click on "escape" and your e-mail pops back up. And that's just e-mail, what the hell to do about Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and all the other distractions out there is beyond me. Gotta go now, haven't checked e-mail for at least five minutes.
Believe it or not, it would seem that there are some people out there who think that hugely successful video game, Grand Theft Auto IV, was inspired by Al Qaida! Seriously, according to an article in the current on line edition of German newspaper, Spiegel, which points out that some guy by the name of "Abd al-Wahhab," has been posting about his unique theory on a large discussion forum used by cyber-jihadists and al-Qaida sympathizers around the world.
He is convinced of his theory, arguing that the video game "shows the power and effectiveness of these tactics." Weazel News, the news radio station in the game (Motto: "Your station for sports, weather and the war on terror") not only reflects America's obsession with terrorism, it's obvious that it is a caricature of Rupert Murdoch's, neo-con, flag waving, US TV channel, Fox News, which even claimed that when Barack and Michelle Obama fist bumped each other at a recent event, it was a secret Jihadist sign. Fair and Balanced my ass!
Considering the many, many years I've been in this completely screwed up business, I think I've seen and heard some pretty dumb things when it comes to customer communications. But, In the category of... "Does this make any sense at all?" It would seem that the latest sales pitch by Microsoft to customers who are unhappy with their Vista operating system, takes the cake.
Speaking at an event Tuesday in Washington DC, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said his company's licensing policy allows for customers to install the previous generation of Windows should Vista not sufficiently impress them. "Customers get both," he said. "I don't know how you can do better than getting both."
Ballmer's comments were in response to a question about whether Microsoft will continue to market retail copies of Windows XP for mainstream PCs beyond its scheduled June 30 expiration. The Microsoft blowhard explained that his firm holds no such plans because any customer who wants to purchase XP after June 30 can just as easily buy Vista and trigger its built-in downgrade option. Pardon me for blinking here, but when the CEO says something that inane, I have to wonder what the hell he's been smoking recently!
George Parker
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